Something Wonderful
by Shadowolf00
Summary: A look into the mind of a Pokemon who has suffered hard and long and now tries to find the silver lining in a harsh world. An incompetent trainer and an unmotivated team doesn't help either. Based loosely on the anime, Yellow, Emerald, and Colosseum.
1. Prologue

**This story is dedicated to my friend, JadedWarrior.**

* * *

* * *

The wind screamed wildly making the downward pour feel like needles against my face. The pain, however, was not physical. Being one with such mental control I wretched at the thought of someone catching me in such an unstable condition, at least I would if I could focus.

My mind swirled with memories of us playing together, running together, and being happy. Now, my heart was black. Black and cold. Cold and dead, just like him.

I nudged the cold wet corps in front of me as tears, masked by the rain, fell from my large empty eyes. The gem on my forehead grew dull from my lack on concentration. My ears hung low and my tail as still as the baby in front of me.

A low cry escaped my throat in a futile attempted to wake my kitten as if he were asleep. He was happy and healthy just hours ago.

* * *

While I was in the forest gathering berries the winds were telling me that something was wrong. However, even I couldn't predict what was to come. About half a second before I heard the cry I dropped the berries and ran as fast as I could. The cry finally reached my ears as my paws dug into the earth seeming to slow me down with every step. It wasn't until the cry cut off did the world around me slow. The insects seemed to be stuck in the air, the leaves on the trees were more still then my heart. When I finally arrived to the clearing the Swellow had my baby in its mouth. My eyes glinted and a fifth of a second later the Swellow lay on the ground dead, my baby still in its beak. His blood running form the bite marks on his throat and back. That's when the rain began to fall and my heart began to shatter.

* * *

How could I have not foreseen this? No matter how many times I ran the scenario in my mind, I could not find a way to get to him in time. I could never get to my baby. He was destined to die that day; just as I was destined to cry that night.

Destiny, however you look at it, is never inherently cruel. Destiny works one of two ways. Either something wonderful happens and an unrelated terrible event takes place, or, there is a terrible event followed by something wonderful; something so wonderful that it makes that one terrible thing no longer terrible. The fact that, that terrible event could go away was the only thing that allowed me to hear the crying that night.

"Mommy! Mommy!"

It was a human. I could never understand human speech but their minds were as easy to read as the pouring rain. I closed my eyes and turned from my dead kitten. I kept my head down as my tail began to twitch and the gem on my forehead turned bright red. I still couldn't focus. My mind kept returning to the body behind me.

"Mommy . . ."

The voice was getting weaker. It sounded like a child. I tried to focus and to my surprise, it was a child. He was cold, wet, scared, and lost.

I stood on all fours and giving my kitten one last glance, I sped off. I followed the sounds of the cries. His thoughts were only of one thing. His mother. He wanted her – no – needed her to be with him and she wasn't. The child was having the same thoughts as my kitten before he was murdered.

As panic struck my heart I dug my claws deeper into the muddy earth, pushing me faster.

Where was he? Why couldn't I find him? I couldn't let another die!

"Mommy?" The child spoke as I grew closer.

I pushed through the bushes and saw a sad muddy face looking around. The smell of saline revealed his tears. I gently stepped forward letting out a short sound; humans always seem to respond to sounds.

"Huh?" The little boy turned to face me and screamed, "Get away! Don't hurt me!" However, I could not understand him. All I knew was that he was terrified.

I sat down and closed my eyes. I brought our minds together and used Calm Mind. After a few seconds I could feel his mind relax.

"Are you going to hurt me, Kitty?" He was still scared of me.

I stood and approached him slowly. His body tensed and I sat back down.

After a long two minutes, the rain began to subside and the little boy ousted his hand. I touched my nose to the palm of his hand, taking in his scent at the same time. When he moved his hand to the top of my head a little bit of the pain in my heart reseeded.

"What kind of Pokémon are you?" The boy asked. I only understood one thing and that was Pokémon.

"Espeon!" I chimed my breed. As with all Pokémon the only thing humans could understand was our names or any variation of them. It was a sad truth but legend spoke of two powerful Pokémon who could communicate with humans. But that was only legend.

"You're an Espeon? I gotta ask Professor Oak about you. My name's Von!" His thoughts were happy and they warmed me. "But . . . mommy will be mad because I'm not home yet . . ." He was sad again, he wanted his mother.

I got to my feet and called to him. He looked down at me and I began to walk. I glanced back and saw that he was following. I knew of a human town near by. Hopefully the humans there could help this boy.

* * *

Once we arrived in the human town the child and I were instantly surrounded by people. I hissed at them and blocked them from Von, I couldn't let him get hurt. Something deep down was telling me to stay by his side.

"That's okay Espeon, that's my family!" He cheered his thoughts filled with joy. The woman in front of me was filled with both fear and relief. She was the boy's mother. I withdrew my claws and sat down besides the boy. He rubbed my head then ran into his mothers arms.

"Mommy! Mommy! That Espeon brought me back! I was lost and I didn't think . . ." Von was so happy to be with his mother again. I watched her withdraw a poke ball as she eyed me.

Was she going to attack me? I had done nothing wrong.

My eyes narrowed slightly and a growl escaped my throat and before my eyes a Starmie was standing in front of me. I prepared myself for battle but Von wiggled out of his mother's arms and stood in front of me.

"No mommy. He's nice!" He said as his mom tried to reach for him but he quickly grabbed onto me.

"I do believe you mean, She," A human dressed in white spoke as he approached us. I have never been around so many humans in one place before. It was unnerving. My ears twitched with every sound. This was all so new.

"So, it's a lady Espeon?" Von spoke snapping me out of my own thoughts.

"Yup, did you catch her?"

I wish I understood humans. I knew they were talking about me but I didn't know exactly what they were saying.

"No . . . Lady came to me."

Von couldn't be too old. Humans age a lot faster then Pokémon. He had to be around five or six human years.

"You've named her already?"

I felt him squeeze me.

"She's a lady so, her name is Lady!"

I watched the man in the white coat reach into his pocket and pull out a poke ball. I froze. Were they going to capture me?

"Well, Lady has to decide. She's a very powerful Pokémon. You can only catch her if she wants to be caught." The man said as he handed Von the ball.

Von released me and sat on his knees.

"Wanna be my friend, Lady?"

His thoughts were warm and reminded me so much of my kitten. It was still too soon to get close to anyone. I stood and turned around.

"I guess that's a, no." The man spoke.

I began to walk away but stopped when I heard the little boy cry. I turned around and without thinking I trotted over to him and tapped my nose against the poke ball.

* * *

Destiny doesn't give warnings. Not even the best psychics can't know their own destiny for sure. All I knew was that Von was now my kitten. He called me Lady and played with me everyday. I could feel the love returning to my broken heart. I would not let destiny take this kitten away from me. Nothing will take Von away from me.


	2. Chapter One: This Is New

The wind blew gently against the tuffs of fur on my ears and the grass seemed to move with me as my eyes stayed locked on my target. Its green form blended seamlessly with the tall grass, almost. The brain waves from this Pokémon were so weak I almost thought that it was asleep, but it kept moving around the tall grass as if avoiding us.

I heard Von give me the cue and I charged at the Pokémon. I leapt over a fallen tree and pounced on a half sleep Scyther. It looked at me and seemed to faint instantly. My head tilted to the side as I back off of the Pokémon. Von, now an adult human, stood besides me scratching his head.

"Well, I was expecting a battle but . . ." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a poke ball, "how often dose an easy catch come around?" He laughed as he threw the ball at the fainted Scyther, capturing it easily.

"Come on, Lady. Let's go home."

I had learned some of the human language and often found their conversations interesting. They always seemed to be worrying about something. How much money do they need for this? Do they have enough food for that? They should learn to live their lives. It was so short.

Von, my master and best friend, had taught me many things and I taught him some of the ways of the Pokémon. He was a very special human; he was very sensitive to us Pokémon. It was strange sometimes, while he was still a child he could tell the difference between those of us tainted by humans and the regular Pokémon.

A few days ago he caught a Caterpie so, this Scyther must have overwhelmed him with emotion because he wanted to go out and battle. He called me into my ball and all I could do was wait until he was ready for me to come out again.

The poke ball wasn't a bad place at all. It was almost like having ones mind float in an ocean. It was the most relaxing thing ever. Yet, I could understand how some Pokémon would fear or even hate it. It's dark, and silent. You can move around and yet, never go anywhere. It could easily be a cell. Except that, we can escape if we really desired to.

"Lady! Get them!" Von called in a panic and I leapt out of my ball. His emotions were everywhere.

I tried to assess the situation but I had to dodge a flamethrower attack. I looked up at the large Arcanine and my mind quickly focused. I sent a Psychic Attack his way and watched him began to crumble. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw something fly past but before I could react the cry from Caterpie had already been cut off. I closed my eyes took a deep breath and sent out my strongest psychic wave I could.

"Lady! Stop! You're . . . hurting . . . me . . ." Von's voice made me stop instantly. I opened my eyes and saw that the Arcanine was still alive but fainted while the Houndoom that killed Caterpie lay dead.

I ran over to my master and licked his hand he wasn't moving but, I knew he wasn't dead. He was kneeling down with Caterpie's limp body in his arms and instantly I had flashbacks to when my kitten was killed. I turned my back to the sight and hunched my shoulders to stop them from shaking.

"I . . . I knew you guys could die . . . I just never wanted to believe it . . ." I felt him lean on me while I fought tears, "I wanted to believe that all Pokémon battles were just fun between trainers . . ." He whispered as the smell of his tears filled my nose making my own tears fall. I wrapped my tail around my body and rested the forked tip on Von.

Why was the sun so bright on such a dark day? Everything about the weather screamed joy and yet two Pokémon lay dead in front of us, one of them my masters first real catch. I shook my head and looked down. I could not allow this to keep happening. I could not allow these lives to be cut short.

From that day forward I wouldn't allow myself to get distracted. I would never leave Von's side. I would refuse the sweet relief of the poke ball and devote myself fully to my master.

* * *

"All right mom, we're going now!" Von said as he tried to exit his front door only to have his mother come running down the stairs; her red hair bouncing messily around her face. I've never met Von's father but I heard that he was a great Pokémon master still out catching Pokémon. It didn't matter, he looked almost exactly like his mother; short spiky red hair, bright green eyes, and a wild, almost psychotic, personality. Maybe he got his drive and, I regret to say, recklessness from his father because his mother didn't want him to leave. She was determined to keep him home.

"Okay, Von!" She embraced him tightly. "Do you have your Poke Dex?" She asked as she searched her only son.

"Yes,"

"Your Poke Nav?"

"Yes,"

"A change of clothe, water, food, money – "

"Yes, mom, I have everything. Don't worry." Von smiled sweetly and kissed his mother and hugged tightly before dashing out the front door. "Bye mom! Love ya!" He called back as we ran down the driveway to the main road.

* * *

It had only been three months since Caterpie passed away. Von had his twentieth birthday last week and now he was on his way to becoming a Pokémon master. His mother use to be a gym leader when she was only twelve and Von's father had been on the road since he was ten. Von seemed like a late bloomer but that was okay. This was how everything was supposed to happen.

Von stretched his arms over his head and looked up at the sky as we began our journey.

"Look, Lady!" Von said excitedly as he pointed to a large bird in the sky. It seemed to create a rainbow with its tail. That bird was one of those many legends. Ho-oh, I believe was its name. I've never seen one of the legendary Pokémon before but I knew that Von wanted to see them just as bad as I did if not more. He wanted to see them up close in battle.

Von looked down at me with a large smile, "Race you to the next town!" He said knowing that he could never beat me in a foot race. "Scyther!" He called out Scyther only to have it slink over to a tree and fall asleep. I couldn't help but laugh.

I walked up to Scyther and poked at his hard exoskeleton with my paw. I then put my two front paws on him and tried to use my weight to wake him. It was no use. So, I took a step back and used a Swift attack that woke him up instantly. He recoiled and covered his face with his blades in defense. I purred and bounced around him playfully trying to get him to play with us. All he did was sleep. He needed some fun.

After a moment of silence Scyther unsheathed his face and mumbled, "Scy . . ." He yawned as he eyed me curiously, "ther . . ." He rolled over and ignored my feeble attempts at play.

"Don't be rude Scyther!" Von tried to wake his Pokémon up but, to no avail. "Why won't he do anything?" He asked looking at me as if I knew. I just shrugged my shoulders and began walking toward the next town. I glanced back to see if Von had caught my hint to return Scyther and get moving before sun down.

* * *

I waved my tail wildly as I sensed all the different Pokémon in the area. There were so many and they were all fairly weak. Perhaps Von would have better luck finding a Pokémon out here.

No luck there. We chased down Pidgey's, Fearow, Ratatta, every low level Pokémon I could sniff out but to no avail. We were already approaching the borders of the next town.

Pyrite town was a scary place full of tough guys and girls looking for battles. If it wasn't for me Von would have taken everyone up on their offers for a battle. He didn't have enough Pokémon. Scyther didn't listen and I could only fight so many battles alone. It was best to wait until he had some more Pokémon.

"Hey kid!" A large man called to Von and approached us. He looked down at me and reached his hand out to touch me but I bared my fangs at him as a warning. I didn't like this man and I sensed something terrible about to happen.

"How's about you and I have ourselves a little battle?" The man asked Von.

"Okay!" Von responded obliviously.

"Okay, Girafarig!" The man ordered his Pokémon out of its ball. The moment it materialized both I and Von knew something was wrong with it.

"What kind of Pokémon is that?" He was talking to his self as he pulled out his Poke Dex. It wouldn't work. "Is that a real Pokémon?" He asked his opponent.

"Of course! It's just a little stronger then a normal Pokémon and more obedient." He laughed, "Now call out your Pokémon!" He ordered.

I looked up at Von and tried, with every fabric of my beginning, to get him to understand that this was a trap. He didn't seem to understand and called me to the field. I kept my face blank for the sake of the battle but I was very unsure. I couldn't seem to get a clear psychic reading on this Pokémon. I was blind to it.

The battle began with Girafarig sending a Shadow ball toward me. I was only able to dodge because of Von.

"Lady, what's wrong? Why aren't you dodging the attacks?" He asked in a panic.

"Hey, kid! How's about we make a little wager?"

I used my Confusion attack on my opponent and was happy when it worked. I could almost sense a consciousness, and that was all I needed.

"What kind?"

"Winner gets the others Pokémon." The man laughed making me freeze momentarily.

"No way! I'd never risk Lady," He stated sternly giving me more confidence.

I closed my eyes and focused all my strength into one powerful Psychic attack. When my eyes opened I saw Girafarig still standing but something was wrong. Not only should that attack have knocked her out, but she seemed to be gaining power. What was going on?

I took a few steps back from the Pokémon whose aura was so clouded and dark that I couldn't even bare to be near it. She was tainted by the bad humans. I've seen Pokémon like this before but, I've never battled one. It was scary not being able to read my opponent.

"Aw . . . that's too bad! This girl here is a Shadow Pokémon! They go pretty high on the black-market. Plus, they fight hard till the bitter end." He said trying to interest Von.

"You sell Pokémon?" Von asked disgusted as the man nodded. "Then I'll take you up on that offer." He said making both mine and the man's jaws drop.

"Really?" The man asked in disbelief, "I mean, okay! Girafarig! Shadow rush!" He ordered quickly. I've never heard of such a move.

I tried to dodge but, she got me anyway. She then gave a cry as if she was hurting and yet she continued to attack. I could feel her power weakening with every attack. I tried to use Psychic but she kept cutting me off. I used Swift as a distraction so that I could use Psychic. I could feel her rushing toward me but right before her attack made contact she crumpled to the ground in agony.

"No! Get up you stupid Pokémon!" The man shouted at his Pokémon as it tried to stand back up.

I knew that she would not be able to attack me. I felt horrible for hurting her because I knew that had absolutely no control over what she was doing. Not once her aura grew out of control.

She fell to the ground unconscious and her trainer quickly called her back and ran off.

"What? I won fair and square! Lady, go get that Pokémon!" Von ordered and I obliged. I didn't know if Von had a plan or not; what I did know was that we needed to get that Pokémon away from that man, quickly. I couldn't read the Pokémon's actions but her human was an open book.

I ran after the large man as fast as I could. It wasn't hard to catch him, what was hard was when he closed the door to an old building in my face. I pressed my ear against the door and I could hear a crashing sound then there was yelling. I began head butting the door, knowing full well what was soon to come.

"Scyther! Use X-Scissors on the door!" Von ordered as Scyther lazily walked up to the door. "Hurry up!" He yelled while I hissed at the incompetent insect.

Scyther seemed to get the point and he swiftly cut the door down. As soon as there was an opening I ran inside the dark room. It was silent. I heard Von and Scyther come in behind me and a faint breathing. I quickly searched around the room finding a lose wire; I pulled on the wire and a dim light flickered on in the center of the ceiling. My ears twitched as I followed the sound of breathing and then, before I could react, I heard Scyther complain about smelling blood.

"Espe!" I chimed as I ran over to some creates and used my Swift to break them then I was roughly pushed out of the way by Von as he grabbed hold of Girafarig's bleeding form. She was still alive but, she was dying. Both of her eyes were swollen shut, her nose dripped blood and one of the teeth on her tail was broken. Her entire body shook as she tried desperatly to hang onto life.

Von gently touched the top of her head near her broken horn and a large knot that had began to form.

I'd never seen a Pokémon beaten so severely before. It was painful to watch. I had to do something. I had to make Von move.

I nudged one of Von's poke balls and watched him try to capture the dying Pokémon. It didn't work. It was impossible to catch a Pokémon whose already been captured.

My head dropped for a moment. What could we do? She was far to big for Von to carry and I was of no help. Scyther . . . even if he would help, his blades would get in the way and only make matters worse.

I sighed and looked up after hearing a noise behind me. When I turned around I saw Scyther digging around some of the boxes. I walked over to him to make him pay attention to the matter at hand but, then I saw what he was messing with. It was a device that I knew all too well.

"Espe! Espe!" I cried as I ran across the room to Von. I pulled on his, now, blood stained shirt. He shook me off the first time. "Espeon!" I screamed as I bit his arm roughly.

"What?" He glared at me. I pointed my nose to Scyther who lifted the weird device. "What is that?"

Oh, how I wished I could communicate with humans. I thought about the first time we met. I was able to use Calm Mind on him . . . maybe I could tell him.

I closed my eyes and tried to picture my old master from fifteen years ago. He wore the strange device on his arm. When he used it he held the poke ball in hand and the device would glow bright. When he threw it at a Pokémon with a dark aura he was able to capture it even though it had already been caught.

"Thank you, Lady," Von said as he sat the Pokémon down. The only chance she had was if he could get her to a Pokémon Center.

I sat down and watched Von put the device on his arm and I chirped whenever he did something wrong.

"I never knew you had a master before me . . ." Von whispered as he tied all the straps around his right arm. "I never knew you could share your memories with me either." I didn't know this either, even so, he sounded hurt by the fact.

I walked up to him and rubbed against his leg to let him know that I wasn't trying to hurt him.

"It's okay, I just wish I could have learned that thirteen years ago." He gave a weak smile before grabbing an empty poke ball. The machine began to glow.

"So, what is this thing called anyway?" He asked as if I could respond.

I sent him a memory of my previous master talking to his girlfriend.

"_Don't touch the Snag Machine!" My master ordered as his piercing gold eyes glared at the naive redheaded girl. _

"_You can only use it for the Shadow Pokémon." The girl said sternly, glaring back._

"A Snag Machine . . . what are Shadow Pokémon?" He asked me and I shrugged. I wasn't completely sure myself. All I knew about them was that they were created by humans and not nature like the rest of us.

When the machine had finished warming up I pushed him toward the Girafarig. I watched him kneel down and touch the ball to the fallen Pokémon and she was captured easily.

Von was still looking at the Snag Machine, amazed that such a thing exist. I could tell that he was wondering if it worked on regular Pokémon and not just Shadow Pokémon. I pawed at his leg while Scyther returned to his poke ball on his own.

Von snapped to attention and we both ran out of the old building and through the town in search of a Pokémon Center.


	3. Chapter Two: Sleep On It

"Oh, my!" The nurse in the Pokémon Center exclaimed when she saw the battered condition that Girafarig was in. "Was this from a battle?" She asked in horror as watched Von's saddened expression darken.

"I'm afraid not. I found her this way. I think a person did this to her." He said trying to mask his hatred of the man he battled earlier.

How could someone beat a harmless Pokémon and leave them for death just because they lost a battle? Some humans were really cruel in this world and Von was just now learning this. Correction, he learned this when his Caterpie was murdered three months ago. This particular event hurt him differently. Instead of this being another Pokémon's doing, the owner was the one who tried and kill the Pokémon directly.

Even I was getting angry at the fact that humans had became so corrupt with power that they'd literally crush anyone or anything in their way.

Sickening . . .

"Well, that's all we can do for now. You'll have to leave her here overnight to know if she'll make it or not." I watched my master's eyes widen and I could feel his heart sinking at the thought of losing another Pokémon.

I rubbed my face against his cold hands and looked up at his pale face, the blood seemed to have been drained from every pore. Suddenly his face reddened to a shade not far from his own hair. His features seemed to be frozen in a hard glare. It was quite unsettling to witness.

* * *

It was times like these that I wanted to go into my ball and just float endlessly with my mind at ease. Perhaps that was why Scyther stayed in his ball so much. Maybe, he didn't know how to deal with the real world. He only seemed to show two sides of his self. The side that was bored with the world and the side that was shy and maybe even a little fearful of the world. Though, today was different. He actually seemed interested. Perhaps it was because this was a serious situation where there was a life was on the line.

Scyther had fought long and hard when Caterpie was murdered. He was seriously injured and angry that he had fainted.

Come to think of it; I don't think I've ever seen him fight with such passion since that event. I never spent much time with him . . . I should have, it was only the two of us. Now we had a third member and she was a Shadow Pokémon.

I watch Von begin to leave the nursing station and I quickly followed still absorbed in my thoughts.

Shadow Pokémon were very unpredictable and often quite violent when in a rage. I was beginning to worry about Von taking on this responsibility. He's never truly caught a wild Pokémon before let alone one corrupted by humans. He can't even get Scyther to wake up without my help. I could feel it on the winds that this Shadow Pokémon will not make it easy for Von.

I sighed at my revelation and looked around the Hotel Von had led me into. We were shown our room and I quietly jumped onto the foot of the bed. I curled into a ball and prepared for sleep but paused when Von began his normal routine of asking Scyther to come out of his ball for the night. Scyther would normally come out of his ball, yawn, look around, and go right back into his ball.

This night, however, Scyther behaved a little different. He yawned and looked around as he normally would but, instead of going back into his ball he stretched out on the couch and began to drift off into sleep. He was stopped, quite rudely, by my body landing on him in a heap.

Scyther looked at me confused and a little scared. I let out a soft purr telling him to relax and he seemed to try. I curled up on his belly and closed my eyes. Not to sleep but, simply, to meditate.

* * *

It wasn't until I was sure that Von was fast asleep did I perk my head up. I pawed at Scyther's face in an attempt to wake him and nearly getting my head cut off in the process. I used my claws to stab him gently in the side which woke him with a start. I hushed him and led him out of the room. I was very curious about him. He's been traveling with Von for three months now and the only thing I knew about this Pokémon was that he liked to sleep, hide, and ignore his trainer. I just figured that there had to be more to this Pokémon then what he showed.

"_Why did you wake me up like that?" _Scyther yawned as he scratched his head. He followed me outside but he still kept his distance as if I wanted to harm him.

"_Why do you sleep so much?" _I rolled my eyes and sat down on the hard ground.

Pyrite was strangely calm at night. One would think a town full of thugs and gangs would be at its rowdiest when the sun went down.

"_That can't be what you woke me up for . . ." _Scyther grumbled as he plopped on the ground with his blades on his lap; trying and failing to keep his eyes open.

"_Oh, no, but it is part of it," _I spoke as I turned my head to the sky and closed my eyes.

"_Because sleep is good." _He said simply with a yawn, _"Can I go now?" _He whined.

"_No, you do know that Von is keeping that Girafarig, right?" _I asked turning my gaze to him making him jump slightly.

"_Yeah, so? You could use someone else to glare at." _Scyther said boldly as he lifted his blades slightly in defense.

"_So? Don't you know – wait – I don't glare at you!" _That comment caught me off guard. I never intentionally glared at anyone unless I was attacking them.

"_Yes, you do! You're doing it now," _He said before turning around and using steel wing so that I could see my reflection in his wings.

I wasn't glaring, but I did have a few lines that a Pokémon my age shouldn't have. They made me look sinister. Had I really gone through such a rough life, that I was aging before my time?

"_That's not a glare! That's just my face!" _I hissed at the incompetent Scyther. _"This. This look is a glare!" _I said coldly as I watched the chills literally run down his spine.

"_So, then . . . you're just old?"_ Scyther asked cautiously once I averted my eyes.

"_What?! No!"_ I wasn't old for Pokémon standards, simply fifty. _"Anyway, back to the Shadow Pokémon,"_ I said defensively to get back on topic.

"_What's a Shadow Pokémon?"_

"_Well, maybe if you woke up once in a while you'd know!" _I was still a little frustrated about the fact he thought I was old. _"I don't know much more then anybody else. All I know is that they are very powerful and very unstable. They don't always listen," _I paused and glanced at Scyther only to get a confused look, _"And they will even attack their trainers." _I finished.

"_So, what does that have to do with us?" _Could he really be that dense? Maybe it was because he was a bug Pokémon.

"_That Girafarig Von caught is a Shadow Pokémon. If he can't even handle you how do you think he's going to handle someone with mood swings and crazy powers?" _

Scyther seemed to think about this for a moment. _"What are you trying to say? You want me to 'behave'?"_ He said making air quotes with his blades.

I gave him a simple nod and after a few more moments he agreed.

_"But, if she tries to kill me, I'm going back into my ball." _ He added quickly before we returned back to the Hotel.

_"Why do you like being in the poke ball so much anyway? And all that sleeping should be boring after a while . . . right?" _I asked curiously.

_"I love being inside my ball for the same reasons you hate being inside yours. Except I enjoy myself." _Scyther chuckled as he laid down on the couch. _"I'm not always asleep. I do think. A lot. It's relaxing."_

I was a little stunned that he actually had reasons for the lazy things he did. Sure, he indulged his self a little too much but, it wasn't as bad as I thought.

_"What do you think about?" _I asked; my curiosity growing by the second.

_"Everything. Grass, tress, Butterfree, Von, you, learning new moves, evolving . . . everything." _A smile crept across his mantis face as his eyes closed.

_"Oh, so, I take it your no longer afraid of me?" _I asked hoping it would be my last question of the night.

_"Yeah, before I thought you hated me. But, now that I know that you don't hate me, I'm not afraid." _He whispered as he _appeared_ to slip off into a deep slumber.

_"Good night, Scyther." _My words were met by silence.

Was he really sleeping? I perked my ear to listen for his heartbeat and was stunned to find it fluttering as quickly as it did while we were outside talking. So, he was thinking. Who would have thought of a Scyther as a thoughtful creature?

I curled into a tight ball on the foot of Von's bed and fell to sleep in hopes of good news tomorrow.


End file.
